Evolution, old and new, or, The theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck as compared with that of Charles Darwin / By Samuel Butler, author of "Erewhon," ... Op. 4.

  • Samuel Butler
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Evolution, old and new, or, The theories of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck as compared with that of Charles Darwin / By Samuel Butler, author of "Erewhon," ... Op. 4. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    The want of a practical acquaintance with Natural History leads the author to take an erroneous view of the bearing of his own theories on those of Mr. Darwin. Review of' Life and Habit,' by Mr. A. B. Wallace, < Nature,' March 27, 1879. Neither lastly would our observer be driven out of his conclusion, or from his confidence in its truth, by being told that he knows nothing at all about the matter. He knows enough for his argument; he knows the utility of the end; he knows the subserviency and adaptation of the means to the end. These points being known, his ignorance con- cerning other points, his doubts concerning other points, affect not the certainty of his reasoning. The consciousness of knowing little need not beget a distrust of that which he does know.—Paley's ' Natural Tlieology,' chap. i.
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